Too Much Red?

I was focusing on another perch when I looked up and saw my Cardinal friend catching the light nicely on the Euonymus branch some distance from me. I hadn't intended that perch for the Cardinal, and I think the red leaves clash with his wardrobe. See next pane.....

D7000, 500f4 + 1.4, ISO 1000, 1/320s @ f/6.3 manual, fill at -0.3


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...so I tried a little PP magic. Does this work? C&C appreciated.

I like the pose, crest, HA and BG. Green leaf version works for me. It looks like a burning bush branch to me. Nice PP magic and image!

Thanks Jim. Winged Euonymus is considered an undesirable invasive, but it sure does make for a splash of fall color in the yard, and the birds love it. I believe it is also called Burning Bush, and sometime Spindle Tree, but there are lots of varieties. Maybe they are not all invasive.

Thanks for the information Bill. People use them a lot in landscaping up here. The branches have a nice texture and the leaves in the fall are amazing.

Hey Bill: Lovely pose, HA, detail, crest & BG. I like the OP best.

Amazing PP work and a very nice image, Bill. I would like to learn the trick. Was it the color replacement tool?

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Originally Posted by Karl Egressy

Amazing PP work and a very nice image, Bill. I would like to learn the trick. Was it the color replacement tool?

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Yes Karl. It was very easy with the color replacement tool. I then went back and adjusted the hue on a few randomly selected leaves so they wouldn't look so uniform.

I like this one a lot, excellent sharp details and accurate color rendition, just wish the tail was not blocked

Love the one with the green leaves. Another vote for learning your trick if you're willing to share.

Great shot Bill! Both shots work for me. However, may be the colour of the leaves is fooling my eyes, but the bird in the second shot (the one with green leaves) seems to be more detailed and sharp.

Yes Bill the complimentry colour to red is green so the second post has that colour impact. Excellent PP with the Colour Replacement feature. The Cardinal is very sharp, good HA and nicely composed against a soft, neutral BG.

Bill Sir:
I love original post, since colors of leaves are really complimenting beautifully with Cardinal.Re post also looks beautiful.
Rest, colors,details,perch and backdrop are as usual superb.Love the inquisitive look and crest.

Regards,
Satish.

Very cool pp trick and yes, too much red for me. The green version is great and the bird is very sharp and well exposed. Very well done...

Love the green version. In the OP the reds clash with one another.
Good comp.
Can you tell us in detail how you did the PP? I have never used the color replacement brush, I don't even know where it is in PS!
Gail

I too prefer the green leaf version and it does appear to be a bit sharper than the OP......compression? All in all very well done!

I prefer the OP, Bill .... though the PS Magic version is interesting as well. It's a lovely photograph.

To my eye, there seems too much empty space at the top of the image ... especially on the upper left quadrant.

I wonder how it would balance with either less room at the top, or, keeping the same aspect ratio, if you could somehow push the cardinal and its perch higher into the frame.

Hi Bill, you have exposed the reds on the Cardinal so well, and well done with the green leaf version - it does look better than the 'clashing' red leaves.

Thank you all. I'll try to explain how I did this. It was very easy, but since I'd never used that tool before I made it up as I went along, and I'm not sure I can remember exactly what I did. After making a duplicate of the TIFF Master File to work on, here's the gist of it:

1. I had already saved a selection called Bird and Perch, which was easy given the almost monochromatic BG. I loaded the inverse of that selection and used Control J to create a layer on the top of the layer stack.
2. I then loaded the selection again (not the inverse this time), and again used Control J to make a layer of the bird and perch beneath the previous layer. This is the protocol I use for almost all changes I make to the subject; there are probably quicker layer mask methods, but that's what I do.
3. Using Image/Adjustments/Replace Color I brought up the replace color dialog, and using the eyedropper (+), clicked on numerous spots on the leaves to capture the range of red leaf colors as targets for change.
4. Clicking on the square color box in that dialog, I selected an appropriate green color, and could instantly see the results on the image. When I liked it, I clicked OK.
5. Used the eraser tool to clean up small portions of the bird where the eyedropper had picked up some of his red hue and turned it to green.
6. Zoomed in and used the clone tool to clean up the edges of some of the leaves where my eyedropper didn't select all of the necessary hues to change. (Here's where working on a layer of the subject beneath a layer of the BG really helps; it confines the cloning to the leaf without spilling into the bg. I think it was Denise that suggested this method; thanks Denise.)
7. Used the Quick Selection tool to select a few leaves at random, and Image/Adjustment/Hue to tweak the hue of a few leaves so everything wouldn't look so monochromatic. I did this several times in different areas with slightly different hues.
8. Used Save As to give the new image a new name.
9. Made a duplicate, resized to BPN image size, sharpened to taste, and saved that as a new TIFF that I call "minimaster". This might explain why the repost seemed sharper. Since I always sharpen the resized version as the final step, I may have sharpened the green version just a tad more than the red one.
10. Used File/Save for Web and Devices, to convert to jpeg and sRGB.

I'm using CS5, by the way. I suspect some of you power users will find my methods very archaic and cumbersome, but this is approximately what my self-taught method involved. Hope that helps.

The processing you did to greenify the leaves is very executed, but I gotta say I'm more than OK with the OP! Vertical comp works well, but I too could see a bit less above. You've been very successful with your backyard birds...great work!

Thanks Daniel.

Hi,

I agree with everyone's comments that the bird is beautifully exposed and sharp, and perhaps a bit off the top would be good. For me the 2 shades of red in the op clash, and so I prefer the green version. Somehow it looks more natural too, although I realise that's counter-intuitive. And thanks for the detaiis on the pp.

Richard

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Originally Posted by Bill Dix

Yes Karl. It was very easy with the color replacement tool. I then went back and adjusted the hue on a few randomly selected leaves so they wouldn't look so uniform.

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Thans for the info Bill. Excellent work. I'll try it.

very nice Bill,like them both, but the first one Ithink as it,nice pose,sharp,thanks.

Great bird and a great shot to show him off.I prefer the OP as a nice autumnal pic. How lucky you are to get such great birds in your gardens. Thanks for explaining the PS work .

Excellent shot Bill.
Love the pose and perch. Great background and very nice details.
Either version works well for me, but if I to pick one I would with the green leaves.
Terrific pp work.
Well done.

Thank you Christopher, Ivan and Robert. Much appreciated.